OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of tibial fractures on patient's quality of life. METHOD: All patients were evaluated by means of a protocol of clinical and epidemiological data. The Johner and Wruhs method was employed to evaluate tibial fractures and the results were compared to those of the SF-36 Health Survey, which was applied by the authors from the sixth month postoperatively. Those methods were applied considering the return of the patients or not to all the activities they used to perform before the accident. RESULTS: We found a statistical significance (p<0.05) showed by Mann- Whitney's U-test between the component of SF-36, and return or not to previous activities. Regarding the results of SF36 and clinical evaluation (Johner and Wruhs), on the Kruskal-Wallis' test, we also found significant correlation. CONCLUSION: According to the established criteria and based on the results, tibial fractures, even with favorable clinical outcomes, result in a diminished quality of life.
Tibial fractures; Fracture fixation; Intramedullary; Quality of life
